tatittle wrote:That's a gorgeous Tele TC. You've got some terrific guitars! I been spending a lot of time experimenting on my own but its really time for me to get a proper custom guitar.

I am curious about the bridge. It looks like the brass Schaller . I have one of those I am planning on using on my hardtail Strat Tigerization. I didn't like the sound of the guitar I originally had it on at all, but it was a collection of garbage from stripped projects (MIJ G serial maple strat neck worn out, Tom Delong body heavily worn (maybe cracked too), Dimarzio stacked hb strat pups and a Super Dist). But I noticed when I played hard the strings occasionally popped off the saddles due to the low angle top load. Have you ever had this happen?

Thanks! I do love my wood and steel children, not as much as my real ones but they run a close second

It is a Schaller - it's pretty heavy but not sure if it's brass or aluminum. It's gold plated. I've not had problems with strings jumping out of the rollers. When I have to change a string on stage it's easy to miss the roller especially with my 48 year-old eyes

I do love those bridges. I've got it on two guitars and have another in pieces that I'm going to use one on. If nothing else, I've gotten used to playing with them.

Yeah chrome plating is as welcome as a broken bone in my life, on saddles anyway. The saddles I am referring to are already slotted. I have very heavy hands, Im naturally a blues player with deep vibrato's and digging in a lot or even more. Learning to play clean single coil/vintage Fender/JBL's has been a challenge for sure...Jerry's touch and rhythm definitely don't come naturally to me (Other One e.g.). Depending on the p'up/amp in this scenario, really digging in actually causes the pups/tone to wither away rather than bloom. That's part of the reason I enjoy it so much though, very satisfying to be able to see improvement so clearly, being forced to rely almost exclusively on naked melody and phrasing. But I think my heavy hands are alot of whats causing the pop-out, made possible by the string thru. I haven't played that guitar 5 hours though.

This should go in another thread I was reading but: It sounds like wiring the Super 2's per Waldo's current diagram with the Dimarzio stamp upside down, yields North/neck coil remaining on when coil cut., right? I just realized the 2nd Super 2 I have is regular spaced so Ill set that aside and put the Steve's Special pup F space I have in the bridge slot for now. I should have the time to finish wiring it in the next day or three. just for posterity, yes...upside down wired Waldo give North active coil when cut.

Last edited by tatittle on Wed Mar 05, 2014 11:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well I finally finished wiring up my first OBEL Super 2 equipped Jeromonster! I cant believe how much better my Mutron III works with it--I had thought the difference wouldn't be much from a Stratoblaster/buffer but the volume pot is huge. Really digging the Super 2 as well. I have a 24 3/4 Warmoth conversion neck on it right now which I will switch out for a 25.5 (I am starting to think a 25" is best for me though). I have a Steve's Special in the bridge and I really like it so far. I have a 70's SDS-1 in the neck which I wired white to switch which yields no hum cancel--scratch that sounds out of phase maybe); Waldo diagram says black to switch (I just spaced it) so hopefully reversing that will give hum cancel. I put on crap Chinese strings and haven't set up the guitar yet but I am already mucho gracias to the folks around here who shared the magic freely. BTW, I think I reversed the pickup wires at the 5 way switch from the Waldo diagram I used (and it is correct positions). Maybe I just read it wrong or something.

@tatittleI've been using that Schaller bridge for over a year and have never had a string pop out of the roller/saddle. I also have the heavy hands, but finding the balance between a light touch and the right volume setting was key for me, if only for the sake of tone. If I keep my right hand anchored I can manage to control my desire to bash the strings as hard as I can.Maybe 25.5" scale has something to do with it, higher string tension holding it in place? IDK, just a guess. I've heard others mention this problem, but only ever heard about the low E string popping out, never any other strings. What gauge strings are you using?

Its not a chronic problem. I haven't used it much yet and I just installed it on my OBEL strat and was wondering if it may be an issue in the future. I use 10's and 25.5". I think I may have had it pop out with upstroke fingerpicking, which is not suprising I guess. I also like to pinch and pluck at times with a pick, there is so much available with single coils that isn't there with vintage humbuckers really. It does sound solid on my OBEL guitar, it is brass. I noticed they have added holes on the bottom on new models to accommodate string thru...wish I had that model.

Couldn't agree more with managing dynamics. Its nice to have some real wailing tones available, but it is a lot more effective a lot more when its not beaten to death like I did when I was 17 lol.

18 months ago,when I ordered my bridge, the model with string thru was only sold overseas. Not sure why. I've always wanted to try that, and I thought about drilling and slotting my bridge on my own, but the tone is great as a top loader. If anyone found a place to buy one with string thru holes please let me know.

Come to think of it, I may have seen the string thru on Schaller website (vs. a US distributer). I would email Schaller and ask them. I noticed it looks like there is a riser ("shim") described in the specs at Stew; I don't have this as I bought it 2nd hand on a body (funny how nice components sell for cheap when theyre attached to some hideous body etc.).

On other bridges, I also have an ABM (German) tremolo bridge which is very high quality metal; Im not convinced the roller saddles are brass though even though that's what ABM rep told me when I inquired. Lastly I have a really gorgeous looking solid brass trem I haven't installed yet I bought on ebay from a guy in Turkey (HANTUG brand) that I am very excited about. It was a great price and it arrived pretty quick.

My Phiga Bolt is an amazing work of handmade craftsmanship, plays perfectly, no fret work or setup needed out of the case. It has three coil-tapping SD hum buckers, a five way switch, OBEL/UGB, and a Ghost MIDI system in the tune-a-matic bridge. String-through body design gives it a nice spanking sound, huge volute and string-thru mean lots of sustain. Its a 14 layer neck-through design with a four piece hippy sandwich body made from purple heart, mahogany, maple and coco bolo. Phil built me a dream guitar.

It plays wonderfully and was worth the wait. Everything about this guitar is top notch. I had a special request on the neck and he hit a home run with that.

Right now it is loaded with a blaster, 2 super distortions(only coil cut is in the center) and an sds-1. Also have 3 DAllen 69's inside another ring that can be swapped in with little effort thanks to Leo installing din plugs.

1968 Fender Twin Reverb, stock, split into TRM Cabinets head and Tough Trucker cabinet loaded with Weber Ceramic Californias. This amp was purchased from RUKINDer, Jeff Martinson several years ago. I have the TW cabinet in storage.